I, an existing Terminix customer, recently called them about rodents in my attic. The salesmen who came to my residence, "Brandon Triplett" and "Ken Trull," misinformed me about the extent of the problem and the scope of work that was needed. They told me that the entire attic should be sanitized and all of the insulation removed/replaced. The services that they urged upon me came out to approximately $12,000 (which they offered to discount to $11,000ish). I was so stunned that I consulted with other professionals, tactfully omitting any prejudicial information about Terminix, and ultimately inspected the attic myself. There isn't sufficient space to go into detail here, but suffice it to say that much of what these third parties told me and what I saw myself contradicted what I was told by Terminix. A quote for the services that I actually needed from one of those third parties came out to about $700. Unhappy and now untrusting of Terminix, I decided to cancel my account. When I called Terminix to cancel, I spoke to "Alim," who claimed that a contract for termite control which I'd recently signed entailed an early termination fee of $1,000. (Fact-check? False! It states that Terminix "reserves the right" to assess such a fee "in the amount of the unpaid balance," lenient language which allows them to exercise discretion.) When I explained how the salesmen had dis-serviced me, Alim curtly replied, "That's what salesmen do, sir." (Maybe Terminix, but I'm in sales, and that's not what I do...) When I asked if the fee could be waived given the extenuating circumstances, Alim claimed that there was literally no one with any authority to waive the early-termination fee (an insult to my intelligence), and moreover, that he would not be connecting me to a manager and would be disconnecting my call (an unprofessional and petty act). Frankly, I suspect that Alim was flustered after I ridiculed his flip "that's what salesmen do" slip and was trying to spite me. After ending the argument with Alim, I called back and spoke to "Lorely," who was intelligent and understanding, and explained to me that it's the local office that has the authority to waive the fee, but that the local office would have to be contacted through the regional office, which she then did on my behalf. That was on a Monday. That Wednesday I received notice from the local office that my regular pest control had been canceled but nothing about the termite control that was the matter in dispute. I contacted Terminix customer service again and was informed that the local office was contacted that Monday and that they had until that Wednesday to contact me. "Or else what?" I asked. "We contact them again," I was told. So, in sum, Terminix central has no enforcement power over its local offices, even if they're ignoring their own corporate communications. Despairing of ever reaching a resolution, I explained to the customer-service representative that I'd be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, which I then did. The next step for me is to visit the local office's physical address and try to speak to someone there in person. In conclusion, dishonest salesmanship, disrespectful customer service, and a dysfunctional corporate structure which gives the company and its customers little recourse against such salesmanship and customer service. read more